Rolling coverage of all the day’s developments at the Labour conference in Liverpool, including Jeremy Corbyn’s keynote speech
Corbyn’s Today interview - Summary
10 things we’ve learnt from the Labour conference
5.05pm BST
John McTernan, the former Tony Blair aide who is one of Jeremy Corbyn’s most vocal critics in the media and on Twitter, walked out during the speech when Corbyn apologised for the Iraq war, the Mail’s Jason Groves reports.
Former Blair aide John McTernan walks out of Corbyn speech as he repeats apology for Iraq war
4.57pm BST
Here is Ukip’s Tim Aker on Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.
Today has confirmed that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has nothing to offer the millions of decent patriotic Labour supporters who voted Leave and want to see levels of migration brought down.
Several times Corbyn spoke about trust, but how can the voters ever trust Labour again when millions voted on June 23rd for control of their borders, yet Labour are determined to keep free the movement of people?
4.55pm BST
Here is Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, on Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.
Corbyn’s speech shows Labour’s proble. The last time I saw ovations like that was Iain Duncan Smith’s Blackpool conference speech. Here was a quiet man turning down the volume, especially on Europe. He barely mentioned Brexit and said nothing on the importance of the Single Market. It is clear that the Liberal Democrats are the only pro-European party now.
Labour are now two parties, one that wants to win but is being suffocated by Corbyn and his clique who just want to debate the issues of the day and seem to love the politics of the placard.
4.53pm BST
Patrick McCloughlin, the Conservative chairman, has issued this response to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.
This Conference has shown Labour are too divided, distracted and incompetent to build a country that works for everyone.
They would spend, borrow and tax even more than they did last time, support unlimited immigration, and cannot be trusted to keep our country safe.
4.52pm BST
The pledge of £160m for an “arts pupil premium” will make some teachers happy, but it was unusual for Corbyn to offer it to “every primary school in England and Wales,” since education policy and funding in Wales is devolved to the assembly in Cardiff. Presumably a Labour-run Westminster government could send cheques to every Welsh primary school if it wished but would be unable to dictate how it was used.
But even if the £160m only went to English primary schools, it equates to £35 for each of the four and a half million primary school pupils - enough for a school trip or two, perhaps, or a few music lessons.
This is from Sam Freedman, a former Department for Education official who is now a director at Teach First.
Why not just add £160m to the pupil premium? It can already be used for arts. Let schools decide their spending priorities. https://t.co/J8vagEm73H
4.47pm BST
This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about Jeremy Corbyn’s speech. Generally, the verdict is very positive – at least by comparison with previous Corbyn speeches.
From ITV’s Robert Peston:
This is certainly the most relaxed and assured performance I have seen by @jeremycorbyn - so far #Lab16
Jeremy Corbyn has completely relaunched his leadership with this speech. More of this please pic.twitter.com/Z9MSkO5Gip
This is best delivery I've seen from Corbyn. Many in his own party say he's no Prime Minister, but he looks more like a leader today #Lab16
Quick take -Corbyn much better delivery vs last year. asserts mandate in party, trying to bend anti-elite/establishment political wave left
Almost an hour-long speech by Corbyn, very well received and much much better delivered than before. Fair bit of ideology, but not much meat
Clearly those leadership rallies and debates have helped, very well delivered Corbyn speech. Hall loved it. Did you? #Lab16
Mainly Corbyn's greatest hits in terms of policies - his 10 commitments (not the ten commandments)
Snap verdict on Jeremy Corbyn's speech: Assured performance by a visionary who still needs to speak to the country:https://t.co/VmAYk6ehTX
It's his party now. @jeremycorbyn looks at ease giving leader's speech. Clearly got a new scriptwriter & has practised with autocue 1/2
Now clear what he meant when he told @guardian "If you can’t communicate...you’re not getting anywhere"
'16 Corbyn - "21st century socialism"
'06 Blair - we won because had "courage to be true to our values"
Same sentiment but so different
Corbyn's speech was moderate, even pro-business at times. Nothing about Trident or reversing Brexit. No class struggle rhetoric. Wilsonite. pic.twitter.com/vGAWz3khFr
Have to beware the soft bigotry of low expectations when judging Corbyn, but that was up there with some of Ed Miliband's off year efforts
That speech was shrewdly crafted to please both Momentummy audience and a lot, maybe majority of pre-Corbyn Labour. Unity of soft-left.
Very well delivered & well crafted speech by @jeremycorbyn. Not sure 'Socialism for the 21st Century' is an election winning slogan, though!
Very good speech. Corbyn's best delivery - will tempt back some of PLP's soft centre and reassure members worried about competence.
4.38pm BST
Here is the full text of Corbyn’s speech.
4.35pm BST
Crickey! Even John Woodcock has found something positive to say about the speech.
A well-delivered speech from Jeremy with a firm direction. Let's all do what we can to help tackle the 'electoral mountain' he identifies.
4.29pm BST
This is from BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson.
Corbyn's speech was apparently the joint work of aides Seumas Milne and Andrew Fisher, if you're the sort of person who likes to know that.
4.28pm BST
This, from ITV’s Robert Peston, may explain why the cheering for Jeremy Corbyn in the hall was so strong.
In boycotting speech, Lab members who hate @jeremycorbyn gave 250 seats in hall to ardent Corbynistas, increasing the rapture. Gaffe #Lab16
4.19pm BST
Corbyn’s speech - snap verdict: This summer’s leadership election is generally thought to have been a disaster for the Labour party, but one consequence of it is that three months on the campaign trail seem to have helped Jeremy Corbyn sharpen up quite a bit as a salesman for his politics. He has smartened up (literally), his media performances have been noticeably better this week than they were at last year’s conference and that speech was probably the best he’s ever given on a national platform like this.
Corbyn will never be a racy orator, but he did not try for that here and there was nothing that sounded dud or phoney. There was relatively little of the ritual opponent-bashing you get in these speeches (a blessing), no jokes that misfired (in fact, only one joke – but a good one), and instead just a serious policy manifesto. It did go on a bit, but dull and earnest is not necessarily bad, particularly if as a politician you have yet to establish your credentials as credible future prime minister.
3.42pm BST
Corbyn is on his peroration.
Everyone here … and every one of our hundreds of thousands of members …. has something to contribute to our cause. That way we will unite … Build on our policies …. Take our vision out to a country crying out for change … We are … half a million of us, and there will be more … working together … to make our country the place it could be.
Conference … united … we can shape the future … and build a fairer Britain … in a peaceful world.
3.41pm BST
Corbyn is winding up soon.
Let us do it … in the spirit of the great Scots-born Liverpool football manager Bill Shankly … who said: “The socialism I believe in … is everybody working for the same goal … and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football … that’s how I see life.”
We are not all Bill Shanklys … Each of us comes to our socialism from our own experiences.
Mine was shaped by my mum and dad … a teacher and an engineer …. Both committed socialists and peace campaigners … my mum’s inspiration was to encourage girls …. to believe they could achieve anything in their lives.
As the great American poet Langston Hughes put it: “I see that my own hands can make … the world that’s in my mind.”
3.38pm BST
Corbyn turns to the elections next year. He says he looks forward to Labour winning in Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham in the mayoral elections.
And he says there could be a general election.
But we could also face a general election next year. Whatever the prime minister says about snap elections … there is every chance that Theresa May … will cut and run ... for an early election. So I put our party on notice today … Labour is preparing for a general election in 2017 … we expect all our members to support our campaign … and we will be ready for the challenge whenever it comes.
3.36pm BST
Corbyn says he is proposing the “socialism of the 21st century”.
Our job is now to win over the unconvinced to our vision … Only that way can we secure the Labour government we need. And let’s be frank … no one will be convinced of a vision … promoted by a divided party … We all agree on that. So I ask each and every one of you … accept the decision of the members … end the trench warfare … and work together to take on the Tories.
Anything else is a luxury … that the millions of people who depend on Labour cannot afford.
3.34pm BST
Corbyn turns to the possibility of winning the general election.
It’s true there’s an electoral mountain to climb. But if we focus everything on the needs and aspirations of middle and lower income voters, of ordinary families … if we demonstrate we’ve got a viable alternative … to the government’s failed economic policies ... I’m convinced we can build the electoral support ... that can beat the Tories.
Running like a golden thread through Labour’s vision for today … as throughout our history …. is the struggle for equality. Rampant inequality has become the great scandal of our time, sapping the potential of our society.. and tearing at its fabric. Labour’s goal isn’t just greater equality of wealth and income ... but also of power.
Our aim could not be more ambitious. We want a new settlement for the 21st century … in politics.. business.. our communities.. with the environment, and in our relations with the rest of the world.
3.32pm BST
Corbyn condemns arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
We are a long way from that humanitarian vision … Britain continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia … a country that the United Nations says is committing repeated violations of international humanitarian law … war crimes … in Yemen ... just as we have seen taking place in Syria.
So today, I make it clear … that under a Labour government … when there are credible reports of human rights abuses or war crimes being committed … British arms sales will be suspended, starting with Saudi Arabia.
3.30pm BST
Corbyn turns to foreign policy.
We have to face the role that repeated military interventions by British governments …. have played in that crisis. The Chilcot report made absolutely clear … the lessons to be learned from the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq … just as this month’s foreign affairs select committee report into the war in Libya demonstrated … those lessons had still not been learned a decade later.
The consequences of those wars …. have been the spread of terrorism, sectarianism and violence …. across an arc of conflict … that has displaced millions of people … forcing them from their countries. That is why it was right to apologise … on behalf of the party for the Iraq war… right to say that we have learned the lessons … and right to say that such a catastrophe must never be allowed to happen again.
3.29pm BST
Corbyn sets out his approach to Brexit.
We have made it clear that we will resist a Brexit at the expense of workers’ rights and social justice … we have set out our red lines on employment, environmental and social protection … and on access to the European market.
3.28pm BST
Corbyn says Labour campaigned hard in the EU referendum.
But although most Labour voters backed us … we did not convince millions of natural Labour voters … especially in those parts of the country left behind. Left behind by years of neglect … under-investment and de-industrialisation.
Now we have to face the future together … we are not helped by patronising or lecturing those in our communities who voted to leave … We have to hear their concerns … about jobs, about public services, about wages, about immigration, about a future for their children…. And we have to respect their votes … and the decision of the British people.
3.26pm BST
Corby turns to immigration. Here is the passage in full:
It isn’t migrants that drive down wages … it’s exploitative employers … and the politicians who deregulate the labour market and rip up trade union rights.
… It isn’t migrants who put a strain on our NHS … it only keeps going because of the migrant nurses and doctors who come here … filling the gaps left by politicians who have failed to invest in training … It isn’t migrants that have caused a housing crisis … it’s a Tory government that has failed to build homes.
3.24pm BST
Corbyn says there should be zero tolerance of those who whip up hate.
As politicians … as political activists … as citizens … we must have zero tolerance towards those who whip up hate and division … stand together against racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism … and defend those being demonised.
It has been shaming to our multicultural society … that assaults on migrants have increased sharply since the referendum campaign … a campaign that peddled myths and whipped up division.
3.23pm BST
Corbyn condemns the Tory plans on grammar schools.
Grammar schools are not the only way … the Tories are bringing division back into our society …. They are also using the tried-and-tested tricks … of demonising and scapegoating to distract from their failures.
3.22pm BST
Corbyn says Labour would introduce an arts pupil premium.
All school pupils should have the chance to learn an instrument … take part in drama and dance …. and have regular access to a theatre, gallery or museum in their local area. That’s why we will introduce an arts pupil premium …. to every primary school in England and Wales …. and consult on the design and national rollout …. to extend this pupil premium to all secondary schools.
3.21pm BST
Corbyn says Labour would stop “shabby tax avoidance”.
And I recognise that good businesses deserve a level playing field … so I also pledge to good businesses that we will clamp down those that dodge their taxes. You should not be undercut by those that don’t play by the rules.
There is nothing more unpatriotic than not paying your taxes. It is an act of vandalism … damaging our NHS … damaging older people’s social care … damaging younger people’s education … so a Labour government will make shabby tax avoidance a thing of the past.
3.19pm BST
Corbyn turns to skills.
How can we build and expand the sectors of the future … without a skilled workforce? But this Conservative government has slashed adult education budgets … taking away opportunities for people to develop their skills … and leaving businesses struggling to find the skilled workforce they need to succeed.
So today I am offering business a new settlement … A new deal for rebuilding Britain. Under Labour we will provide the investment to rebuild Britain’s infrastructure. We will fund that investment because it will lead to a more productive economy … providing the basis on which our economy and our businesses can thrive … helping to provide over a million good jobs … and opportunities for businesses.
3.17pm BST
Corbyn says he is committed to a national education service.
We are rich in talent, rich in potential … That’s why we’ve proposed a comprehensive national education service at the heart of our programme for government … to deliver high-quality education for all throughout our lives.
Education has always been a core Labour value … from the time of Ellen Wilkinson and before … And a national education service will be an essential part of the 21st-century welfare state.
3.16pm BST
Corbyn says Britain is a country marked by “individual ingenuity and collective endeavour”. Yet spending on research has been cut, he says.
Britain now spends less on research as a share of national income than France, Germany, the US and China … A Labour government will bring research and development up to 3% of GDP.
3.14pm BST
Corbyn confirms his commitment to a national investment bank.
I am not content with accepting second-class broadband … not content with creaking railways … not content with seeing the US and Germany investing in cutting edge and green technologies, while Britain lags behind …
Last year, for example …the prime minister promised a universal service obligation for 10MB broadband. But since then the government has done nothing … letting down entrepreneurs, businesses and families … especially in rural areas.
3.13pm BST
Corbyn says Labour would review social insurance rights for the self-employed.
But one in six workers now in Britain are now self-employed … They’re right to value their independence … but for too many it comes with insecurity … and a woeful lack of rights. So we will review arrangements for self-employed people … including social security that self-employed people pay for in their taxes, yet aren’t fully covered by.
3.12pm BST
He says he wants to go further.
But I want to go further … because we want local government to go further … and put public enterprise back into the heart of our economy and services … to meet the needs of local communities … municipal socialism for the 21st century … as an engine of local growth and development.
So today I’m announcing that Labour will remove the artificial local borrowing cap … and allow councils to borrow against their housing stock. That single measure alone would allow them to build an extra 60,000 council homes a year.
3.09pm BST
Corbyn says Labour councils are already implementing some of these ideas.
Like Nottingham city council setting up the not-for-profit Robin Hood Energy company … to provide affordable energy;
Or Cardiff Bus Company taking 100,000 passengers every day, publicly owned with a passenger panel to hold its directors to account;
3.08pm BST
Corbyn says his pledges are relevant to the modern world.
They are rooted in traditional Labour values and objectives … shaped to meet the challenges of the 21st century … They are values Labour is united on …. They reflect the views and aspirations of the majority of our people … And they are values our country can and will support … as soon as they are given the chance.
3.08pm BST
Corbyn turns to the 10 pledges he set out during the Labour leadership contest.
They lay out the scope of the change we need to see … for full employment … a homes guarantee … security at work … a strong public NHS and social care … a national education service for all …. action on climate change … public ownership and control of our services … a cut in inequality of income and wealth … action to secure an equal society … and peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy.
Don’t worry, they’re not the Ten Commandments. They will now go to the National Policy Forum … and the whole party needs to build on them, refine them … and above all take them out to the people of this country.
Those ten pledges … the core of the platform on which I was re-elected leader … will now form the framework … for what Labour will campaign for …. and for what a Labour government will do.
3.06pm BST
Labour will not let bankers wreck the economy again, he says.
If you want the most spectacular example of what happens … when government steps back … the global banking crash is an object lesson … a deregulated industry … of out of control greed and speculation … that crashed economies across the globe … and required the biggest ever government intervention and public bailout in history.
Millions of ordinary families … paid the price for that failure. I pledge that Labour …. will never let a few reckless bankers …. wreck our economy again.
3.05pm BST
Corbyn reaffirms Labour’s plan to take the railways back into public ownership.
And then there’s the scandal of the privatised railways … more public subsidy than under the days of British Rail … all going to private firms … and more delays … more cancellations … And the highest fares in Europe.
That is why the great majority of the British people back Labour’s plan… set out by Andy MacDonald, to take the railways back into public ownership.
3.04pm BST
Corbyn says Labour will make the minimum wage a real living wage. And they will ban zero-hour contracts.
3.04pm BST
Corbyn condemns the Tories for undermining employment rights.
Of course trade unions are not taking this lying down. … Look at the great campaign Unite has waged at Sports Direct … to get justice for exploited workers … and hold Mike Ashley to account … That is why Labour will repeal the Trade Union Act and set unions free to do their job.
3.03pm BST
Corbyn turns to housing.
Look what’s happened to housing under the Tories … … housebuilding has fallen to its lowest level since the 1920s … home ownership is falling as more people are priced out of the market … evictions and homelessness go up every year.
Instead of spending public money on building council housing … we’re subsidising private landlords … That’s wasteful, inefficient, and poor government.
So Labour will, as Teresa Pearce said, build over 1m new homes … at least half of them council houses … and we will control private rents … so we can give every British family that basic human right – a decent home.
3.02pm BST
Corbyn says the Tories cannot respond to the new era.
In any case, the Tories are simply incapable of responding to the breakdown of the old economic model … because that failed model is in their political DNA. It’s what they deliver every time they’re in government … Tory governments deregulate, they outsource and privatise … they stand by as inequality grows.
They’re so committed to the interests of the very richest … they recruited Sir Phillip Green into government as something called an efficiency tsar …
Well, government might be a bit more efficient … if the super-rich like Sir Phillip actually paid their taxes.
3.01pm BST
Corbyn condemns the Tories for wanting to force through undemocratic boundary changes.
And he points out that May was not elected as prime minister.
Now I know some Conservative newspapers and politicians have suggested our leadership election has been chaotic, and shambolic. But when I meet Theresa May across the dispatch box … I know that only one of us has been elected to the office they hold ... by the votes of a third of a million people.
2.59pm BST
Corbyn says the Tories can never stand up for the privileged few.
Who seriously believes that the Tories could ever stand up to the privileged few? They are the party of the privileged few … funded by the privileged few … for the benefit of the privileged few.
2.58pm BST
Corbyn says the prime minister appears to get this.
Even Theresa May gets it … that people want change … That’s why she stood on the steps of Downing Street … and talked about the inequalities and burning injustices in today’s Britain. She promised a country … “that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us”.
This isn’t a new government, it’s David Cameron’s government … repackaged with progressive slogans … but with a new harsh rightwing edge … taking the country backwards … and dithering before the historic challenges of Brexit.
2.57pm BST
Corbyn says he was elected because people were fed up with the status quo.
It’s not about me of course … or unique to Britain … but across Europe, North America and elsewhere … people are fed up with a so-called free market system … that has produced grotesque inequality … stagnating living standards for the many … calamitous foreign wars without end … and a political stitch-up which leaves the vast majority of people shut out of power.
In Britain it’s happened in the heart of traditional politics, in the Labour party … which is something we should be extremely proud of ... It’s exactly what Labour was founded for … to be the voice of the many ... of social justice and progressive change from the bottom up.
But it also means it’s no good harking back to the tired old economic and political fixes of 20 years ago … because they won’t work any more … the old model is broken … We’re in a new era … that demands a politics and economics that meets the needs of our own time.
2.56pm BST
Corbyn mentions Labour’s achievement in parliament.
At conference a year ago … I launched our campaign against cuts to tax credits … and we succeeded in knocking this government back … This year, 3 million families are over £1,000 better off because Labour stood together … In the budget, the government tried to take away billions from disabled people … but we defeated them …
We have won all four byelections we’ve contested … In the May elections, we overtook the Tories to become the largest party nationally … We won back London … with a massive win for Sadiq Khan … the first Muslim mayor of a western capital city … And we won the Bristol mayor for the first time … Marvin Rees … the first black mayor in any European city … And of course, we also won the mayoralty in Salford … and here in Liverpool.
2.54pm BST
Corbyn says Labout is the biggest party in western Europe.
We meet this year as the largest political party in western Europe … with over half a million members … campaigning in every community in Britain. More people have joined our party in the last 20 months … than in the previous 20 years … We have more of our fellow citizens in our party than all the others put together..
Some may see that as a threat … but I see it as a vast democratic resource. Our hugely increased membership is part of a movement … that can take Labour’s message into every community … to win support for the election of a Labour government. Each and every one of these new members is welcome in our party.
Austria's ÖVP has c700,000 full members. (And United Russia, if you count that as Europe, has over 2m). https://t.co/aY4josd3bq
2.52pm BST
Corbyn says hate on social media is “utterly unacceptable”.
Our party must be a safe and welcoming space for everybody … and we will continue to take firm action against abuse and intimidation
2.50pm BST
Corbyn turns to the leadership election.
We’ve just had our second leadership election within a year … It had its fraught moments of course …not only for Owen Smith and me … and I hope we don’t make a habit of it …
But there have also been upsides … Over 150,000 new members joined our party … Young rising stars have shone on the frontbench … and we found that the party is more united on policy than we would ever have guessed.
2.50pm BST
Corbyn pays tribute to the Labour MPs who took front bench jobs this summer.
And let me pay particular tribute … to those parliamentary colleagues who stepped forward …. in the summer to fill the gaps in the shadow cabinet … and ensure that Labour could function as an effective opposition in parliament.
They didn’t seek office, but they stepped up when their party … and in fact the country … needed them to serve … They all deserve the respect and gratitude of our party and movement …. And this conference should thank them today …. they are our future.
2.48pm BST
Corbyn pays tribute to Michael Meacher and Harry Harpham, Labour MPs who died this year.
They were Labour through and through … passionate campaigners for a better world.
2.47pm BST
Corbyn turns to the leadership election.
But every one of us in this hall today … knows that we will only get there if we work together … And I think it’s fair to say … after what we’ve been through these past few months … that hasn’t always been exactly the case.
Those months have been a testing time for the whole party … first, the horrific murder of Jo Cox …. followed by the shock of the referendum result … and then the tipping over of divisions in parliament … into the leadership contest that ended last Saturday.
Jo’s killing was a hate-filled attack on democracy itself … that shocked the whole country … Jo Cox didn’t just believe in loving her neighbour … she believed in loving her neighbour’s neighbour … that every life counted the same.
And as Jo said in her maiden speech as an MP … we “have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”. Let that essential truth guide us … as we come together again to challenge this Tory government and its shaky grip on power.
2.45pm BST
Corbyn says winning justice for all is what Labour is all about.
Because winning justice for all …. and changing society for the benefit of all …. is at the heart of what Labour is about.
So yes, our party is about campaigning … and it’s about protest too … But most of all … it’s about winning power … in local and national government … to deliver the real change our country so desperately needs …
2.44pm BST
Corbyn says Labour will support other campaigns.
We must learn from them … so we promise those campaigning for Orgreave … for Shrewsbury … for the thousands of workers blacklisted for being trade unionists … that we will support your battles for truth and justice … and when we return to government … we will make sure that you have both.
2.44pm BST
Corbyn says Liverpool has shaped our economy, our culture, our country and our music.
And I know some people say campaigns and protests don’t change things … But the Hillsborough families have shown just how wrong that is ..
2.43pm BST
Corbyn starts with a joke about Virgin trains.
How brilliant it is to see the hall here in Liverpool … absolutely packed for the Labour conference … well I say it’s packed … but Virgin Trains assure me there are 800 empty seats.
2.41pm BST
There is loud cheering in the hall, “Jez we can”.
2.40pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn is coming on stage now.
2.40pm BST
They are now showing a film about the achievements of previous Labour governments, including the Blair/Brown administrations. And it mentions some of the things achieved by Labour under Corbyn.
2.38pm BST
Coleman urges people to give Corbyn a huge Scouse welcome. First, they will show a film about him.
2.38pm BST
Coleman acknowledges the support of Liverpool council.
Labour helped campaign for justice for Hillsborough.
Please unite behind your socialist leader ... He is honest, proud and strong and he never gives in.
2.35pm BST
Sheila Coleman, a Labour member and Hillsborough justice researcher, is going to introduce Jeremy Coleman.
She say she lives in Toxteth. She hopes people have enjoyed Liverpool.
2.30pm BST
This is from ITV’s Robert Peston.
.@jeremycorbyn to say councils would be allowed to borrow billions to build houses & infrastructure. See interesting us of "raid" in release pic.twitter.com/F4PLCYd3xK
2.25pm BST
This is from the Times’s Matt Chorley, who has been watching the Daily Politics.
3 times @afneil asked Angela Rayner "is it wise" to say Corbyn not interested in immigration numbers. She hasn't said yes @daily_politics
2.23pm BST
Crowds up to one deep in places as Corbyn arrives for his speech pic.twitter.com/aUrJuczb4h
2.21pm BST
Now they are playing a song starting: “It might seem crazy what I’m about to say.”
It’s Happy by Pharrell Williams.
2.15pm BST
The song was probably Be Mine, by The Heavy.
2.13pm BST
In the conference hall they are playing a song with the chorus starting “Take all my money” as they wait for proceedings to start.
That wasn’t John McDonnell’s message on Monday ...
2.12pm BST
Speaking on the Daily Politics earlier Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, said Labour would impose “quality controls” on migrants coming to the UK. He said:
We’d have quality controls on all migration into this country. When we are talking about economic migration, the economy has to work in favour of the British people and the British public ... If they see political parties are prepared to put those controls in place then I believe its not the numbers that matter, but the quality.
2.08pm BST
Going back to Andy Burnham for a moment, this is from Sky’s Faisal Islam.
If Burnham wins, I think I'm right in saying he'd control a bigger budget than Khan in London, because of NHS devolution https://t.co/kElUCPSzms
2.04pm BST
The afternoon session of the conference is about to start.
2.03pm BST
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has also been on LBC today. He said Unite would not longer support MPs that were critical of Jeremy Corbyn.
Len McCluskey to LBC: MPs should come behind Corbyn. Those who don't will not be able to rely on Unite's support. https://t.co/sqjvmC2MVX
1.55pm BST
On the World At One Andy Burnham rejected suggestions that his resignation from the shadow cabinet was a blow to Jeremy Corbyn. “It’s not in any way a blow to Jeremy,” he told the programme.
As he begins to think about his new team, it’s right for me to say it’s time for me to take a step back because I’ve been elected as Labour’s candidate to be the first mayor of Greater Manchester.
1.50pm BST
The conference hall is filling up ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech.
Conference hall steadily filling up. Jeremy Corbyn expected to start his speech just after 2pm. #Lab16 pic.twitter.com/0ecE4qqYsK
1.50pm BST
As the Sun’s Steve Hawkes reports, it is said that Jeremy Corbyn is going to conclude his speech by inviting a large group of children onto the stage with him.
Jeremy Corbyn apparently to be joined on stage by 60 kids at the end of his speech- what could possibly go wrong
1.36pm BST
My colleague Alan Travis has written an an analysis of Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on immigration. He says Corbyn is right not to promise deep cuts in UK immigration, “because the only surefire way to deliver them is not by restricting freedom of movement but by crashing the economy.”
Here is the full article.
Related: Why Jeremy Corbyn is right not to promise deep cuts in immigration
1.28pm BST
Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh suggests Jeremy Corbyn may replace Andy Burnham with a woman. Diane Abbott or Angela Rayner could become the next shadow home secretary, he suggests.
Latest rumour is that Corbyn wants woman as Shad Home Sec. Cd spring a surprise give it to @HackneyAbbott, @AngelaRayner or new recruit.
1.00pm BST
Here are the main points from Andy Burnham’s speech. Given the fact that he is expected to leave parliament and become mayor of Greater Manchester next year (it would take a spectacular upset Labour to lose that contest), this was almost certainly Burnham’s last speech to the conference as a frontbencher. He seemed quite emotional at the end, and he received a warm standing ovation.
Here are the main points from the speech.
This is my tenth conference speaking to you as a cabinet or shadow cabinet minister.
And it will be my last.
Conference, this party must fully face up to this fact: millions of lifelong Labour supporters voted to leave the EU and - let’s be honest - voted for change on immigration.
We haven’t yet even begun to show to them that we understand why.
So let’s develop a plan for fair Brexit that deals with their concerns but supports our economy and keeps the Britain we have known - open, welcoming, playing its part in the world.
Because the truth is, a hard Brexit would hit these Labour areas hardest of all.
I have given my all to this party and always put its interests above those of factions and personalities.
And I have given exactly the same loyalty to all four of the Labour leaders I have served.
Doesn’t it make you angry, conference, that, thirty years on, former miners are still struggling for the truth? Ordinary people who were fighting for their jobs, their communities, their future.
Whose own country tried to put them on trial. It’s why, even today, Britain still feels like two countries. Norman Tebbitt, remember him, well he says an inquiry would be a waste of money. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Let me tell him why it’s not.
For the rest of my time in parliament, I will fight for the proposed Hillsborough Law.
A law to rebalance the justice system, away from the Establishment and decisively in favour of ordinary people. And I ask you to get fully behind that campaign.
Let’s seize this moment, put our stamp on devolution and make it a Labour campaign: for a more equal England. Conference, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the support you have given to me over the last ten years.
12.13pm BST
In here speech during the home affairs debate Yvette Cooper, chair of Labour’s refugee taskforce, said that France and Britain should agree to each take half of the 1,000 unaccompanied child refugees in Calais. She told the conference:
This stand-off between France and Britain over who will help the children has to end.
Children’s lives and children’s safety are being put at risk because politicians and bureaucrats can’t agree.
11.59am BST
Andy Burnham, the shadow home secretary, is addressing the Labour conference now at the end of the home affairs debate. I have missed some of the earlier speeches, because I’ve been otherwise tied up, but I will post highlights soon. And I’ll post a summary of Burnham’s speech when I’ve seen the text.
11.58am BST
The Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s suggestion that Labour should not worry about the number of EU migrants coming to the UK. Speaking on the Today programme Kinnock said:
The only way we’re going to solve that is by saying ‘we’ve got a handle on this, we’ve got this under control’ ...
I think we have a defining challenge of our age now, which is to address this problem, tackle it ...
11.52am BST
Just as Kelvin Hopkins (see 11.44am) has criticised Tom Watson for what he said about capitalism not being the enemy in his conference speech, Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has criticised the speech too. He told Sky the speech was “extraordinary” because it contained now vision. It was “the politics of yesteryear”, he said.
McCluskey and Watson used to be allies, but recently their relationship seems to have become quite acrimonious.
Len McCluskey says if Tom Watson wanted to refresh dep leader mandate wd be interesting to see what happened https://t.co/uEQvi9xEpE
11.44am BST
Labour shadow culture secretary Kelvin Hopkins has called on the party to bring back clause 4 - the controversial commitment to public ownership of industry which was scrapped under Tony Blair.
Hopkins, previously a veteran backbencher who admitted he was “very surprised” to get the call up to the shadow cabinet, said he hoped to leave his post as soon as possible now Jeremy Corbyn had won the leadership election.
“It’s 23 years since we saw the abandonment of clause 4, against my wishes, it is perhaps now time to start thinking about bringing it back,” Hopkins told a packed meeting of the left-wing Campaign for Labour Party Democracy last night.
It’s not so far fetched that we should see clause 4 coming back because we are seeing, I think, the beginning of the end of globalisation and neoliberalism.
I heard one speaker this afternoon, I won’t mention his name, who did talk about he value of the market. Well I think we’ve seen what the market has done to the lives of people in Britain.
11.39am BST
This may be premature, because we have not yet had Jeremy Corbyn’s speech yet, but after four full days in Liverpool, it is possible to make some judgments about what has emerged from this year’s conference. Here are 10 things we’ve learnt.
1 – Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election has strengthened his position in the party – but it hasn’t decisively altered the balance of power. Normally the moment after an election victory is when a leader is constrained the least. But for Corbyn there is no one left to sack, any frontbench promotions will be determined by who offers to serve, not who Corbyn picks, and, as the struggle over the national executive rule changes showed, Corbyn cannot depend on getting Labour’s key decision-making body to do what he wants. Significantly, within two days of his re-election, Corbyn effectively conceded that, for now, at least, he is giving up trying to change party policy on Trident. This is a significant retreat on an issue on which Corbyn has campaigned all his life.
11.20am BST
Here’s our latest story about Jeremy Corbyn’s immigration comments, and the splits in the shadow cabinet on this topic.
Related: Corbyn's defence of immigration splits shadow cabinet
Jeremy Corbyn has mounted a forceful defence of immigration from the EU and elsewhere before his party conference speech, causing a fresh split in his shadow cabinet.
The Labour leader is expected to use his speech to promise a Labour government will not “sow division” by promising to cut immigration.
10.55am BST
Labour centrists have just won a very small victory. At the conference the result has just been announced of an election for a place on Labour’s national constitution committee. The Corbynites were backing Chris Williamson, a former MP and a vocal supporter of Corybyn, particularly on social media. But he was beaten by the incumbent, Maggie Cosin, backed by the party’s centrists. She got 53% of the vote, while he got 40%.
Congrats to incumbent and moderate candidate Maggie Cosin on her re-election (53%) to the National Constitution Committee #Lab16
10.17am BST
Labour’s national executive lost a vote at conference yesterday. It hasn’t received much attention, but potentially it is significant.
Delegates were voting on a package of changes to Labour party, the most important of which was one to give Scotland and Wales a seat each on the NEC. As Jessica Elgot reports, that resulted in Jeremy Corbyn losing his majority on the NEC. Labour has published the exact voting figures this morning and the motion was carried by 80% to 20%. Only 8% of union votes were against, but 32% of constituency Labour party (CLP) delegates were.
The centrists suffered a significant defeat minutes later, when conference backed a long-held plan of the party’s left to unpick policy documents.
The Sheffield Heeley CLP amendment, which was carried, states that “Conference has the right to refer back any part of a document without rejecting the policy document as a whole...”
9.34am BST
Here are the key points from Jeremy Corbyn’s Today interview.
I think the migrants that have come to this country have made an enormous contribution to it; our conference certainly understands that - Tom Watson put that case very well yesterday ...
I understand the problems that can come in some areas, hence my determination on the migrant impact fund. But I also understand that there are many industries and jobs that have done well from migrant labour and even depend on it. They are concerned that they won’t be able to have short term migrant labour coming into Britain to help them.
Corbyn right concerns re migration drove Leave vote not numbers Remain Manchester twice net migration of Leave Brum https://t.co/CfKhvRnvXy
When you are looking at bond rates at very, very low levels, the cost is not great compared to the return. [It is] a far better way of funding public investment than private finance initiatives.
If interest rates get very high, then clearly that has to be addressed.
9.12am BST
And, talking of the NEC, last night it issued a statement about the motion passed at Labour conference on Monday saying Labour favoured a possible second referendum on Brexit.
The NEC has now disowned that position. It was passed because there was a mistake in the “compositing” process (which happens when lots of different motions on the same subject are amalgamated by a committee), the NEC said. This is from Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.
That NEC statement in full (on the #labconf16 2nd #euref blunder)https://t.co/GAsNFUrq1R pic.twitter.com/sJgzc3gzmn
9.06am BST
We don’t normally get to see what goes on inside a meeting of Labour’s national executive committee. But last night Unite’s Jennie Formby posted this picture from the NEC to mark Dennis Skinner standing down.
End of an era; the legend who is Dennis Skinner steps down from the NEC. We'll miss your wise counsel Dennis #Lab16 pic.twitter.com/r74EtbIQo3
8.59am BST
Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, has been giving interviews this morning, and she adopted a slightly different tone from Jeremy Corbyn on the subject of immigration. Speaking to BBC News, she said the immigration system was in “chaos” and that controls were necessary.
We have to have controls on immigration, that’s quite clear. You have to know who is coming in to your country and who is leaving your country.
I believe that you do need controls and we have always had controls on immigration. Immigration is a good thing for the UK but what is not good is when people don’t know about what numbers we have. I think you do have to talk about those things. People raise that on the doorstep all the time and it is important that we deal with those concerns.
We have got a long way to go. Jeremy needs to prove himself and earn that respect of the general public, which he hasn’t been able to sell that to the general public yet and he’s got some work to do on that.
I hope he can lay out his plans and be given that opportunity to do that. Divided parties never win. The fact that we are squabbling amongst ourselves, you are not going to vote for us. I have been embarrassed by the way things have gone on over the summer and I want us to come back together.
8.32am BST
And, talking of Guardian colleagues, PoliticsHome is reporting this morning the Guardian journalist Seumas Miline, who took unpaid leave from the paper to become Jeremy Corbyn’s director of communications and strategy, is set to leave Corbyn’s team by the end of this week.
EXCLUSIVE: Seumas Milne on verge of leaving Jeremy Corbyn's office https://t.co/IM1E5HZEap pic.twitter.com/cZCEtdxken
8.28am BST
Here are tweets from two Guardian colleagues on Jeremy Corbyn’s immigration position.
Some Labour supporters cherish single market membership; others oppose free movement. Corbyn's stance disappoints both groups
Strategically bold. Corbyn seems to accept Brexit but wants to retain free movement, the single most unpopular aspect of EU membership
8.24am BST
Q: What would you say to someone who plans to vote for Trump?
Think carefully, says Corbyn. He questions Trump’s plan to build a wall. And he has other strange, old-fashioned social attitudes.
8.21am <span class="timezone